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HUMMINGBIRD MIGRATION 2014

Saturday, January 31, 2015

HAPPY FEBRUARY- READY OR NOT- HERE COMES SPRING!

Hi Everybody!!Welcome to an early spring in February. Just look at my American Red Maple in full bloom at the end of January! This tree is always the first of the big trees to bloom in Spring. Apparently, as a Blizzard is raging up North, Spring silently sneaked into South Texas. You never really know what surprises are just around the corner! We will still have cold weather from time to time until March. From experience I know that you cannot stop the spring process in the trees. When they are ready, they will bloom as you can see in today's photo line up of my Red Maple Tree! Enjoy!

Acer rubrum (Red Maple, also known as Swamp, Water or Soft Maple), is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of easternNorth America. The U.S. Forest service recognizes it as the most common variety of tree in America.[3] The red maple ranges from southeasternManitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity it often attains a height of around 15 m (49 ft). It is aptly named as its flowers, petioles, twigs and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn.

Over most of its range, red maple is adaptable to a very wide range of site conditions, perhaps more so than any other tree in eastern North America. It can be found growing in swamps, on poor dry soils, and most anywhere in between. It grows well from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft). Due to its attractive fall foliage and pleasing form, it is often used as a shade tree for landscapes. It is used commercially on a small scale for maple syrupproduction as well as for its medium to high quality lumber. It is also the State Tree of Rhode Island.

Acer rubrum

...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek. See you next time!
O+O

I want to meet Gardeners, Artists, Nature Lovers and see the World through others photos and stories. I share the adventures of mine at Kates Cabin Bird Sanctuary in Texas on Google+ in digital compositions of my Nature Photos.